Crime & Safety

2 Charged With Battery Following Fight Over Another Woman

Ashley T. Lewis, 20, of Crete, was charged with battery and criminal property damage. Matthew R. Schwertfeger, 26, of the 700 block of Churchill Drive in New Lenox, was charged with battery and resisting arrest.

A man and a woman were each charged with battery last weekend after getting into an argument over another woman, New Lenox police said.

Ashley T. Lewis, 20, of Crete, was charged with battery and criminal property damage. Matthew R. Schwertfeger, 26, of the 700 block of Churchill Drive in New Lenox, was charged with battery and resisting arrest.

Police responded to Schwertfeger's home in Churchill Drive at about 11:45 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, after two other people involved told police they were attacked.

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Sgt. Hilary Davis said Lewis, accompanied by a friend, came to the home to confront Schwertfeger over another woman, who was in the car with him at the time.

Lewis' friend tried intervene, and at that point Davis said Schwertfeger grabbed the friend's hair and repeatedly punched her in the face. Davis said Lewis grabbed the hair of the other woman in the car and punched her. She also damaged an arm rest in the car.

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When police said they were arresting Schwertfeger, he became "verbally combative" and resisted arrest, Davis said. He paid a $100 cash bond and was given a Dec. 9 court date.

Lewis posted an I-bond of $1,000 and was also given a Dec. 9 court date. Davis said the police report didn't specify the nature of Lewis and Schwertfeger's relationship, "just that they're acquaintances."

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